Well, would you alert me to fire vampires as well? When they are near and when they are about to attack?
The amulet warmed against my sternum. I already have.
Memories flooded into my mind of the first night I’d had the amulet, when it had led me to the two vampires attacking nearby. As the amulet had gradually stopped working for me, I’d begun to wonder if that was just a fluke.
It was not.
Why haven’t you guided me to other attacks since then?
I didn’t fully belong to you. Fire vampires weren’t as directly your responsibility as hounds.
Okay, let’s make this official. Could you lead me to fire vampire attacks?
Yes. They are attacking right now.
Chapter Twenty
Are you serious? Where?
I will show you.
I jumped to my feet. “I have to go. Fire vampires are actually attacking right now.”
Eleanora stared at me. “That was fast.”
I didn’t respond as I rushed to my bedroom and grabbed my things, making sure I had my gun holstered in case I needed it. How was I supposed to fight vampires? Eleanora had said something about stakes. Did I have anything stake-like? I wasn’t sure. I ran back to the living room and glanced at her.
“If I’m going to be fighting these things, I’ll need an arsenal of weapons that can be used against them.”
Eleanora nodded. “Yes, you will. In the meantime, we can use my things.”
She beckoned me to follow to her room. She had me lift a super-heavy piece of luggage to the top of her bed, then open it. It was full of all sorts of weapons, many of which I’d never seen before. I couldn’t believe it. This woman was seriously prepared.
She motioned to it. “Take your pick.”
“What works best against vampires?”
“You mean, what works best against fire vampires?”
There were different weapons for the different vampires? I guess that made sense. “Yes.”
“Anything that isn’t flammable—with the exception of the stakes. You can use your magic to stop the item from bursting into flames, but that’ll just slow you down in your fight. I suggest you first choose a stake that fits your hand well, then we can go from there.”
Eleanora chose two long and slender stakes, and I picked out a couple that were a little more rounded and stubby. They were comfortable in my hand, and I marveled at how natural it felt to have them there. Then she motioned for us to go.
As we walked down the hallway, the amulet warmed my sternum, giving me the first direction. South.
The Russells were still in the living room. I’d totally forgotten about them.
“I’m sorry, but Eleanora and I need to leave,” I said as I passed.
I halted in my tracks, though, because I’d automatically assumed that Eleanora was going too. I wondered if it was wise to have her accompany me. This was very different from fighting fire on the mountain. It involved volatile people, and she wouldn’t have anyone to help her get around quickly. I brushed aside my concerns. There was no one else to assist me, and regardless of the woman’s frailty, she was still incredibly powerful, magically. If necessary, I’d distract them and she could stop them with her powers.
Mrs. Russell jumped to her feet. “We’re coming. We can help.”
I shook my head. “No way.”
Eleanora gave me a withering glance. Good thing I knew her well enough to recognize that she was exasperated, yes, but the expression was mostly one of impatient love. “They say they can help—let them help. Give them the benefit of the doubt, Lizzie.”
Absolutely not. My elderly neighbors would not be fighting vampires with me. I could compromise, though. “Fine. They can come, but they’re staying in the car.”
The couple glanced at each other, and Mr. Russell shrugged. Then the four of us went to my car.
The amulet guided us south to Pioneer Crossing and west to Redwood Road, where we went south again. We continued south until we reached the very end of Saratoga Springs. I was surprised when the amulet kept having me drive. There was hardly anything out there.
We reached what looked like a cement or stone factory, and the amulet guided us toward a set of offices. I stopped the car, and Eleanora and I jumped out. I pulled the stakes from the trunk, keeping an eye on the buildings. All was quiet so far. “How about you do the heavy magic lifting,” I whispered to Eleanora, “and I’ll focus on fighting.”
“Sounds good.”
The Russells hopped out of the car before I had a chance to remind them to stay put. “You might not need to resort to violence,” Mr. Russell said.
I did my best not to flip out at him. “Stay behind me. Well behind me.” I was quickly realizing that bossing a stubborn pair of elderly people around simply did not work.
With me in the lead, we headed toward the office door. I was very aware that my companions were all old, very old. This was ridiculous. How was I going to stop fire vampires with only a geriatric unit on my side? Eleanora’s words echoed in my mind, though. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They acted like they knew what was going on, like they were able to help if needed. But how?
The door was locked. I fiddled with the handle, wishing I’d learned how to pick locks. Eleanora stepped next to me.
“Allow me.”
She sent a few trickles of magic to the door, a little click sounded, and the door swung open. Man, I really needed to master my powers.
The amulet guided us past a receptionist desk, down the hall, and into a back room. There, on the floor, five vampires were feasting on one man. He was obviously dead by that point. My stomach turned at the sight of the body completely drained of blood.
“Stop!” I yelled.
The vampires glanced at me and froze. I noticed as their eyes tracked to the stakes in my hands, but that didn’t seem to bother them nearly as much as the amulet at my neck. Maybe having the amulet visible wasn’t a bad idea after all, especially if it elicited this much of a reaction.
The vampires hissed at me and jumped to their feet, their backs to their victim. They slowly stepped toward us, and I lifted my stakes, ready to defend myself.
They moved so quickly, I could barely keep up with them. One second, I was standing in front of them, holding my stakes, and the next, the two men had me pinned up against the wall with the women advancing, preparing to attack. They hesitated again when they saw my amulet, though, and it gave me a moment to realize I recognized the blond woman—she’d been in the living room the first night I’d seen fire vampires. I’d snuffed out her companion’s flame.
Flame!
I reached out to the fires around me, then I too paused. I already knew from experience that snuffing their fire wouldn’t kill them. In fact, Rauel had been able to attack even after I’d killed his flame.
The six of us hesitated long enough for Eleanora to come to action. All five vampires were thrown across the room and plastered up against the opposite wall. My jaw dropped. Massive magical pulses, similar to ones I’d only ever sensed from Nicole and Austin, flooded from the woman. She’d been a Fire Impeder, and her main focus was stopping fires, but I’d long suspected she was also a Silver. How had she managed to master both?
From what I’d learned in training, Fire Impeders did their best when they hadn’t specialized in any magic other than Fire. Eleanora was turning out to be an exception to pretty much every rule. She was in her nineties and still acted as if she was forty. It was quite impressive.
“Sorry I didn’t do something sooner,” Eleanora said from where she’d stopped in the doorway, blocking the Russells from entering the room. “I’d forgotten how fast they move. It caught me off guard.”
“Me too,” I said before turning to our captives.
The vampires were seething with anger. They struggled to get free, ripping and scratching at their clothes and trying to pull them off. The thing about Arete magic is that it can’t control anything that’s living. Only ina
nimate objects. Eleanora was holding the vampires in place by their clothing.
I took a step toward the vampires, about to ask if the body on the floor was their only victim, when they relaxed, slumping against their clothes. I raised my eyebrows. Had they stopped fighting because of me? Then I noticed that all five of them were staring at the doorway where the Russells now stood.
Chapter Twenty-One
Something flickered near the Russells, and all the vampires dropped their gazes and lowered their heads. I glanced back at the Russells. Nothing had changed.
I watched, mouth open, as Mr. Russell stepped into the room, his normally stooped body held tall, his gaze direct. Mrs. Russell was at his side, her step just as confident, just as authoritative. They stopped directly in front of the vampires.
“Why are you here?” Mr. Russell asked.
“Because of her, Your Majesty,” the tallest of the vampires said, pointing at me.
Your Majesty? What the heck?
Mrs. Russell scowled, and the man flinched. Holy cow.
“She’s got the amulet now,” Mrs. Russell said. “There’s nothing you can do to stop her. I suggest you reconsider your position and decide where your loyalties really should lie.”
All five of the vampires hissed.
“No way!”
“He betrayed us!”
“He doesn’t deserve any recognition.”
Mr. Russell raised his hands, silencing them. “We’re not talking about him, but her.” He glanced back at me. And then to the vampires again. “And he didn’t betray you. It was the other way around.”
Who were they talking about? I opened my mouth to ask, but a quick glance from Eleanora silenced me.
Mr. Russell continued. “Go back to your coven. Tell them to expect a visit.”
“From whom?” one of the women asked.
Mrs. Russell picked up where her husband let off. “And make sure they know they must be willing to enter into negotiations with Miss Ashton.”
The tallest of the vampires shook his head. “It won’t happen. She’s destroyed everything we put in place. She deserves nothing but death.”
All five vampires glared at me and I held perfectly still, doing my best not to show any sign of intimidation. I couldn’t remember if vampires could control me through their eyes, and I didn’t want to find out. Instead of dropping my gaze and appearing submissive, I looked at Eleanora. The woman met my eyes, her expression grim.
“She wouldn’t be welcome to come,” the blond woman said. “She’d be destroyed the moment she stepped foot in our hollow.”
Mrs. Russell looked back at me and raised an eyebrow. “Is there anything she can do to make things better?”
“You know what she must do.”
Okay, that was enough. “What’s going on? What are they talking about?”
Mr. and Mrs. Russell stared at me, and Eleanora stared at them. It appeared she was in the dark too. That made me feel a bit of relief. I turned my gaze back to the vampires. They surprised me by squirming, their eyes shifting around and not meeting mine.
Mrs. Russell also turned back to them. “Well?” she said, arms folded.
At this point, I realized Eleanora was no longer holding the vampires against the wall. I didn’t know if they’d figured it out. Either way, they weren’t fighting anymore.
The blond glared at me. “He’s still in the hospital. We can’t reach him, and because of his condition, he can’t escape.”
I knew immediately who she was talking about. Rauel. The vampire whose flame I’d extinguished. I glared at her. “What do I have to do with him?”
She shifted her gaze away, and again I wondered if she had the ability to control me through her eyes. Was she avoiding doing so? And if so, why? “He’s in the hospital. Because of you. And he’s slowly starving to death. Because of you.”
I rolled my eyes. “A vampire? Starving to death because of me? Not likely.”
She hissed, and the tallest of the vampires grabbed her arm.
“Don’t say any more,” he commanded. “She doesn’t need to know.”
I snorted. “Let me see if I’ve got this straight. You want me to go visit Rauel in the hospital, but you’re unwilling to tell me why?”
Eleanora glanced at me. “Pretty ridiculous.”
The Russells looked like they agreed.
I didn’t stop glaring at the five vampires. “You have to stop attacking here.”
The woman guffawed. “And what do you propose we do instead? This isn’t Twilight. We can’t just survive off animal blood.”
I struggled not to smile. Hearing a real vampire talk about Twilight was seriously funny. Before the giggle could burst out of my mouth, I clamped down on the edge of my cheek, forcing myself to keep my thoughts serious.
And then my curiosity got the better of me. “Wait, really? You can’t use animal blood?”
The woman’s mouth dropped open. She looked at me like I was insane. “Of course not. It’s physically impossible, but more than that, it’s disgusting.”
I glanced at Eleanora. “She has a good point. What should they do instead?”
“Break into prison and kill people on death row. I don’t know.” She looked at the vampires. “But you need to stop attacking innocent people.”
“What about getting fresh blood, but not from a person? And also . . . do you have to kill them every time you drain their blood? Or could you just take a bit here and there?”
The five glanced uneasily at each other.
“Well,” the blond started. “Probably. But . . . We’re fire vampires. We can’t fully subsist off just blood.”
The man’s hand tightened around her shoulder and she winced, glaring up at him.
“Go talk to Rauel,” he said. “He has permission and will explain everything.”
After Eleanora and I quietly deliberated, we let the vampires go, unable to do anything else. It wasn’t like I could have them arrested. They were much more lethal than any cop Chief O’Hare could send their way.
The moment they were gone, Eleanora and I turned to Mr. and Mrs. Russell. I folded my arms and raised an eyebrow at them.
“It seems Eleanora is right,” I said. “There’s more to you than meets the eye. Who are you?”
Mrs. Russell’s cheeks tinged pink and she glanced at her husband.
“Obviously not who you think,” he said.
“Well, yeah. They called you royalty and ‘Your Majesty.’”
“There have been many types of supernatural beings who’ve lived on earth. Humans were able to eradicate vampires several hundred years ago, but earth recently came back into the picture, and remembering how much we enjoyed living here, Mrs. Russell and I decided to return.”
I blinked. “And you took up residence next door to me?” What a coincidence.
Mrs. Russell laughed. “No. You didn’t live there when we moved in. We’ve owned that house for almost forty years now.”
Mr. Russell gave her a serious expression. “I think she deserves to know the whole truth.”
Mrs. Russell’s mouth opened and closed several times as she stared at her husband. “I think you’re right.”
She stepped to me, putting a hand on my arm. A small part of me wanted to cringe away, but the majority of me—the part that knew and loved this woman—refused to budge.
“We’ve only lived in that house for a year and a half.”
I shook my head. “No, I’ve known you the entire three years I’ve lived here.”
Mrs. Russell nodded. “You’ve known the Russells. But we aren’t them.”
My mouth dropped open. “Who are you? And where are they?”
Mr. and Mrs. Russell shared a look.
“It’s best if we have this conversation back at home,” Mr. Russell said.
“Yes, it is,” Mrs. Russell said. “I’ll give you my cookies and a cup of hot chocolate.”
Eleanora and I agreed—we were technically trespassing now that the
threat had been removed, and I could tell Eleanora was tired of standing.
We debated what to do about the body, finally deciding to leave an anonymous tip. We later found out that he was an employee of the company who had been breaking and entering in an attempt to steal some petty cash. The fire vampires, it seemed, had already been targeting lawbreakers.
We returned to the car and headed to the Russells’ house, silent the entire way. I knew I hadn’t received enough information to make any judgments, and I was both eager and hesitant to learn more.
A part of my heart ached as I considered the implications of what they’d told me. If the Russells were no longer there, where had they gone? Who were these people I had been associating with for over a year now? What had they done to the Russells? Why had they moved in next to me? And could they be trusted? My instincts said yes—that they were as harmless as I was.
I startled, then chuckled inwardly at that thought. I was incredibly dangerous and becoming more so as I learned to use the amulet. The Russells, if they were just as “harmless” as I was, were fairly lethal.
Thinking of the amulet, I raised my hand and gripped it, wondering at the fact that it hadn’t warned me about them. If they truly were dangerous to me, it would have. Right?
Right.
The thought from the amulet warmed me to the core, and I decided to stop stressing over the information I was getting that day. I just needed to let it flow over me to digest later.
We arrived at the Russells’ house, and true to her promise, Mrs. Russell served cookies and hot chocolate. I didn’t care that it was blazing hot outside—I wanted the stuff, and I was going to have it.
“Okay,” I said. “Explain who you are and how you came to be my neighbors.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“We wanted to be close to the Fire Impeder in this area. Especially once we learned it was you. You’ve been to our dimension, and we recognized Nicole’s adventures were over and that yours were just beginning. And so we watched your neighbors for five months, finally choosing the Russells.”
“Why?” I asked.
“Because you had an established relationship with them, and they were elderly and had failing health.”
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